Today is Thursday, March 12, the 71st day of 2009. There are 294 days left in the year.
1622 _ Ignatius of Loyola declared a saint
1642 _ Abel Tasman is first European in New Zealand
1917 _ Russian Dumas sets up Provisional Committee; workers set up Soviets
1930 _ Mohandas Gandhi begins 200-mile (321-km) march protesting British salt tax
1933 _ FDR conducts his first ``fireside chat"
1947 _ President Truman introduces Truman Doctrine to fight communism
1951 _ Communist troops driven out of Seoul
1958 _ British Empire Day is renamed ``Commonwealth Day"
1977 _ Egypt's Anwar Sadat pledges to regain Arab territory from Israel
1994 _ Church of England ordains first 33 women priests